[Ads-l] "double agent" = "[single] agent" ?

[Chris Waigl]

On 3/19/18 6:58 AM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> The first paragraph of the original email reads as follows:
>
> Two nights ago, the usually articulate and precise Rachel Maddow several
> times referred to Russians accused or convicted of espionage on behalf of
> Britain or the US, and expelled or executed, as "double agents."
>
> I did not interpret that as necessarily referring to Skirpal.
>
>
[Skripal is the name.] Correct, but the description does fit him, and
he's the one currently in the news. In the absence of clarification or a
longer quote with context my guess was this is the news item she might
likely have been talking about.

On the other hand, it is true that there have been murders or attempted
murders or unexplained deaths of about a dozen Russians in Britain in
recent years, some of whom were probably not double agents. So if she
just referred to the whole group as double agents, it would have been a
questionable choice of terms. (Some of them possibly weren't spies in
any sense, I think [though that may just be my naivety about
international spying], even though most probably were. What's your take
on using the word double agent for someone who by their position in
Russia is expected to, and in fact at least pretends to bring
information back to the Russian authorities, but then stays in the UK,
gets police protection and is debriefed by the British intelligence
services?)

Chris

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